What's In A Name?

Where the balloons, or the cake, or the streamers and confetti came from was a mystery. So were the ponies – Colgate didn’t think she told anypony where she was going to stay, having only arranged for lodgings a short time after leaving Canterlot and arriving in Ponyville. So she was shocked, to say the least, when she opened her door to a very loud chorus of “Surprise!” that was echoed by another pony who said it late.

The aspiring dentist’s jaw dropped when her eyes fell on the banner above the cabinet of the place soon to be her new home. It read, “WELCOME, COLGATE” in blue paint, and confirmed her knowledge that the party was indeed for her, that this was her place, and she didn’t simply walk into somepony else’s house by accident.

The ponies were all looking at her expectantly and in total silence, smiling as though waiting for a speech. A mint green unicorn was standing on her hind legs beside a cream earth pony, and the mailmare she saw earlier in Canterlot was floating above, one eye on her, the other on the ceiling. Many others were also staring at her with nervous grins, as if afraid that Colgate didn’t like the reception. A pink – maned yellow Pegasus with a bunny in tow. A lavender unicorn with a dark purple mane that had a pink streak. A white unicorn with a curled violet mane. An blond, orange earth pony with a Stetson. A cyan Pegasus with a multicolored mane. A brown stallion with darker brown hair – every single pony looked tense, and the moment of Colgate’s dumbfounded shock stretched for ages. That is, until the pink earth pony spoke up.

“So, do you like it or do you like it or do you REALLY like it?”

“It – it’s very nice.”

“You hear that everypony? SHE LIKED IT!”

A cheer erupted from the sizable crowd and the party was suddenly underway. Laughing, drinking cider, eating muffins and cake, among other things, suddenly started in several parts of the house. Looking at the party, Colgate wondered how these raucous ponies were able to hide in the house silently – and then she wondered how they hid in at all, considering that the place she took wasn’t that large. She stepped in, bouncing pink pony beside her.

“How did you set this party up? I only took about ten minutes to walk around before I came here from the station,” asked Colgate.

“Like – this!” replied Pinkie, pulling out a cannon from thin air and shooting out several streamers, balloons, muffins and a fresh barrel of cider, much to Rainbow Dash’s joy. Pinkie bounced on the cannon, flattening it comically and putting it away. “My party cannon! I never leave home without it, in case I run into anything that needs a party – like you!”

Colgate was shocked again when she saw what Pinkie did, but decided to dismiss it as the pony being herself. The Element of Laughter was known even in the big cities, after all, and common consensus was to not question her antics. Something else, however, was begging her to ask the pony something else.

“And... How’d you know where to put up the party? I never told anyone where I’m staying.”

“Oh, I know the housing and real estate of Ponyville like the back of my hoof! I have to, in case somepony moves from somewhere else - like you! This place was the only one in town that wasn’t occupied, and since you were just moving here, I figured this was where you’re staying, cause, you know, you didn’t know anypony here, which is sad cause you have no friends yet and nopony to stay with, but now you have plenty of new friends!” Pinkie emphasized the last word by bouncing twice as high when she said it, putting her hoof on Colgate’s back, and gesturing to all the partying ponies.

“That’s... great, I guess. Thanks.”

“No problem! Oh, and by the way, I don’t think this is going to be a slice of life story. You should be careful!” And with that, she bounced over to her friends, looked around, and produced a green alligator that instantly grabbed a muffin and walked away staring into space.

Colgate was still disoriented. This was by far the warmest welcome she had in all the cities and towns she’d been to – by a huge margin. In the others, not a single pony even turned their heads to acknowledge her existence, let alone approach her. But here, she was instantly accepted as part of the town, and as a friend – something rather new due to her past having involved lots of travel taking up most of her time. She smiled warmly, and thought that it was a good decision to move here, where the past didn’t matter and all she had to look to was the future.

“Minuette.”

The voice snapped Colgate out of her trance – like state. She knew that voice. Just when she thought that her past – her name and the history it had – would leave her alone, it came back in the form of a brown earth pony stallion. There was no mistaking that brown mane, or that hourglass cutie mark, just like hers.

“My name’s Colgate, not Minuette.” She turned around, and saw the Doctor. It was a sight she'd become familiar with, but not one she particularly liked, due to the fact that it was always accompanied by something bad.

“We’ve known each other for too long for me to call you Colgate. And I definitely expect you to at least talk to me properly.”

“Fine,” said Colgate irritably. “Let’s talk outside and get this over with.”

The two stepped outside for their conversation, a thing which didn’t go unnoticed. The mint green unicorn said, “She’s been here five minutes and he already got her to go with her away from this party? He’s good.” In response, the cream pony beside her jabbed her in the side with a hoof.

Outside the house, the surroundings were silent. For some reason the ruckus inside was completely contained, and Colgate appreciated that. If the noise was too much, the conversation would never end properly and would keep coming back to kick her in the flank.

“We haven’t seen each other in ages, Doctor. What do you want now?”

“Look, Minuette, I promised that I would leave you alone last time –“

“As you damn well should.”

“- but the possible consequences of doing that are too dangerous – “

“Then leave me out of your danger and let me be.”

“- so I have to ask for your help again.”

“To which I will explicitly say ‘NO’.”

Doctor Whooves sighed dejectedly and asked, “Why are you acting like this, Minuette?”

“The name is COLGATE, and if you call me Minuette one more time this talk is over.”

“Okay, fine, Colgate. Why are you like this?”

Colgate drew a long and deep breath, preparing for a monologue. She stated, “Because every single time you ask for my help, you ruin whatever I have! Last time you got us stuck in that place filled with the two legged hairless monkey things, and I almost died there!”

“I am sorry for that, but you know as well as I do that that was an accident.”

“Even so, it doesn’t change the fact that you nearly got me killed.”

The Doctor had no reply, so Colgate continued. “I just want to move on now. I don’t care about the past. Why do you think I changed my name and moved to a new city? Even if the future is in danger right now, I’m living here. In the present. I would suggest you do the same. And for Celestia’s sake, can’t you get others to take on your adventures aside from me?”

“I can’t live in the present, not when our enemy lives in the past, and all over time.”

“The past is the past. Just leave it alone! And he’s YOUR enemy, not mine.”

The Doctor was completely silent, and walked away unnoticed. Colgate had turned around, opened the door and entered her new home, where she was tackled by the mint green unicorn who asked, “What did you two talk about? I’m not letting you go until you tell us all everyth – oof!”

“Cut it out, Lyra.” The cream pony jabbed the mint green pony in the side again, pushing her off Colgate. Turning to the blue unicorn, she offered a hoof and asked, “Are you okay? Sorry about that, Lyra really likes knowing things about ponies around here.”

“Oh, I’m fine, thanks.” She stood back up and looked at Lyra. “We didn’t talk much,” she said with a mischievous grin. Having  been all over Equestria was an experience that taught her how to read ponies somewhat, and she could just tell that this particular unicorn was one who loved knowing every single thing in town.

Lyra’s ears perked up, and she was back in front of Colgate. “You didn’t... talk much? What were you doing?” She was practically vibrating as her head went through the possible meanings of the statement. Colgate was right. Lyra could barely handle not knowing, especially when it was right in front of her.

“Lyra! Leave the poor pony alone. It’s her first day here. I’m pretty sure she would want to keep her secrets until she trusts us all.” The cream pony clapped in front of Lyra, snapping her out of whatever it was going on her mind.

“No, it’s okay, really. But that’s all I’m telling you, uh... Lyra. We didn’t talk much. That’s all you can know for now.”

Colgate advanced forward again, only to be stopped in her tracks by a much more excited Lyra, who grasped her by the shoulders and shook her, saying, “I gots to know!”

The cream pony pulled her back. They were already making a scene, and she made Lyra sit down to prevent the scene from getting bigger. “Sorry about this! Maybe we can talk when she’s calmer or something. Nice to meet you, by the way. Name’s Bon Bon.”

“Nice to meet you too,” said Colgate, shaking Bon Bon’s hoof before she walked away and herded Lyra to the chairs. She faintly heard Bon Bon’s voice say “...you really have to stop doing that...”

The pink party host came back to Colgate’s side and started talking. “Oh good, you have friends now! Wait! I just

remembered, you haven’t met anypony else! Well, aside from Lyra and Bon Bon and Time Turner and me, but you don’t even know my name, do you? Of course you don’t, because I haven’t told you yet, but I’m about to tell you... Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie!” She bounced up into the air, and froze halfway up, shouting in a military – like voice, “Everypony! Line up!”

Every pony did line up, and Colgate found her being introduced to more ponies than she could possibly remember on such short notice, with Pinkie Pie pulling up pony after pony from the line and placing them in front of her, with a short introduction accompanying each.

“Here’s Fluttershy,”

– the yellow pegasus said a weak "Hi" –

“and this is Applejack”

– the orange earth pony said “Howdy” –

“and this is Rarity”

– the white unicorn greeted “Hello there, dear,” –

“and this is Rainbow Dash”

– the cyan Pegasus said “Oh cool, a new pony!” -

“and this is Twilight Sparkle”

-  the lavender unicorn asked, “How do you do?” –

“and this is – Derpy!" Pinkie told off the blond pegasus who had gone back to the table with the muffins on them. "You can have muffins when you’ve said your hello to Colgate!” said Pinkie Pie, as the wall – eyed gray mailmare went back to her spot on the line, disappointed at not having gotten a muffin before getting noticed.

“Where were we? Oh yeah! This is Berry Punch, and this is Carrot Top, and this is...”

Colgate just let the words go through her ears. It wasn’t like she would actually remember all of them instantly – that would take time. Instead, she just smiled and shook hooves, thinking of the good days ahead of her here in this friendly town which, if Pinkie wasn’t lying, had parties full of sweets every week at the least. That would really be great for her new life as a dentist.

Her time in Ponyville had started. A new life, and if the Doctor really stayed out of her mane, a good one. She smiled to herself, looking forward to the days ahead of her.